Exercises for Weightlifting Group Classes

Group weight-training classes predominantly work with adjustable barbells combined with aerobic steps that double as weight-training benches. Classes also use regular or adjustable dumbbells as well as loose weight plates. Group weight-training classes provide a sociable way to develop your fitness, muscle tone and strength in a group environment and to motivating music. For an exercise to work in a group class, it needs to be relatively simple, easy to teach, easy to correct and adjustable for all levels of participants.

  1. Lower-Body Exercises

    • Your lower-body muscles -- the quadriceps, hamstrings, abductors, adductors and glutes -- make up around half of your total muscle mass. Working your lower body not only strengthens these muscles, it also elevates your heart and breathing rate and burns lots of calories. Good leg exercises for a group strength class include squats, lunges, regular and stiff-legged deadlifts, reverse lunges, split squats and step ups.

    Chest Exercises

    • When using free weights, chest exercises are usually performed in the supine position or lying on your back. So you can move your arms through a full range of movement, this means you'll need to lie on your aerobic step. Bench presses and flyes are the cornerstone of group power classes for the chest, but you can also perform pushups, which, while being a bodyweight exercise, still provides an effective chest workout.

    Back Exercises

    • In training, back refers to the muscles on the rear of your upper body -- from the base of your skull to the top of your pelvis. In actuality, this area of the body is made up of lots of different muscle groups including your latissimus dorsi, rhomboids, trapezius and erector spinae. Exercises that target your back include power cleans, single-arm and barbell bent-over rows, pullovers and prone back extensions. Because of the dangers associated with rounding your lower back, back exercises must be performed in a neutral spine position, which preserves the natural spinal curves, and supervised closely.

    Shoulder Exercises

    • Your shoulders have been worked indirectly in all of the preceding upper body exercises and even some of the lower body ones too. This means that direct shoulder exercises may be unnecessary. If you do want to work your shoulders, variations of overhead presses; upright rows; and side, front and bent-over raises ensure your shoulders obtain a simple but effective workout.

    Arm Exercises

    • As with your shoulders, your arms have been involved in every pulling and pushing exercise performed so far -- pulling exercises involve your biceps while pushing exercises use your triceps. You can work these muscles in isolation by performing curling variations for your biceps and extension variations for your triceps. Both biceps and triceps exercises can be performed using barbells or loose weight plates.

    Core Exercises

    • Core is the collective term used to describe your abdominal, waist and lower back muscles. These muscles work collectively to support your spine or alone to control spinal movements. Core exercises are often done using your body weight only but you can also perform weight-training exercises for this part of your body. Barbell side bends, weighted crunches and situps, ab rollouts and get-ups all work your core using weights.